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One of the many benefits of open source software is that the code is freely available for anyone to pore through to their heart's content. And that's just what XDA has done, uncovering some more details about muskie, the forgotten HTC-made device that was once pegged to be this year's Pixel 2 XL.

Of particular interest in the muskie-related AOSP commits for Android 8.0 is this line:

Code:

<item name="battery.capacity">3830</item>

Yup, that's right, HTC's pitch for the Pixel 2 XL was to have a massive 3,830 mAh battery, putting the LG version's paltry-by-comparison 3,520 mAh to shame. Unfortunately that big battery would quickly prove to be the device's downfall—last June someone told 9to5Google that the cell wasn't performing as expected, and that muskie's development had been halted.

Had the device made it into production users would likely have had to content with a large forehead and chin, similar to the HTC-made Pixel 2. However, the disaster with LG's POLED screen would have been averted. Something tells me that if Google had a do-over they might have put a bit more effort into bringing muskie to market.

It all started two weeks ago, when GizmoChina posted a render of what they claimed was the OnePlus 5T. Folks were skeptical, and rightly so. Last year's OnePlus 3T took advantage of the Note7 debacle and shoehorned some better specs into the already-excellent OnePlus 3; if this leaked render was to be believed, OnePlus was now planning to put the same processor from the 5 into an entirely new body.

It doesn't make any sense, yet the wild speculation continues, fueled even further by the fact that the current OnePlus 5 is out of stock in many markets, including Canada and the United States.

That original render was eventually dismissed as an Oppo device (the F5), but then a few days ago another render surfaced with OnePlus trim and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor—you can see it for yourself at TechnoBuffalo. That same day, someone leaked the teaser image that you see above to Android Authority.

For reference, the current OP5 has 16 and 20 megapixel cameras for standard and portrait shots.

I guess if you're a OnePlus fan who's been holding out for a tall display then you won't have to wait until the summer of 2018 for your next phone. But all I can think of is how many angry OnePlus 5 owners there will be come November, when the 5T is expected to make it début.

The Verge has taken the unprecedented step of pulling their review score for Google's Pixel 2 XL. Here's the full text from their amended review:

After multiple reports of possible screen burn-in on the Pixel 2 XL, we are pulling our score for this device until we have more information. We have reached out to Google, but as of this writing the company has only said that it's "investigating."

Since publishing our original review, our unit has developed ghostly versions of the main Android navigation buttons at the bottom, visible when you're looking at a gray background. Several other outlets have reported the same on their review units. That's potentially a telltale sign of screen burn-in, which can affect any OLED screen over time — but usually that time is measured in months and years, not weeks. It's possible, however, that it's simply a temporary "image retention" and not a permanent issue.

If it's not permanent, it's one more disappointing problem on an already disappointing screen, and we will update our score on the 2 XL to reflect that. If the 2 XL's screen is genuinely exhibiting permanent burn-in after just a couple of weeks, we'll also update our score to reflect that (and it will be a very low score indeed).

Until we know one way or the other, we're temporarily removing our score on the Pixel 2 XL. In the meantime, we can't recommend buying this phone until we can definitively say that the screen isn't permanently damaging itself within weeks of buying it.

The smaller Pixel 2, however, remains a great phone with a very good (albeit smaller) screen.

If you didn't already know, the Pixel 2 XL is being manufactured for Google by LG with a POLED display—that is, an OLED display with a plastic substrate. The smaller Pixel 2 (built by HTC) uses an AMOLED display panel built by Samsung. You can read more about AMOLED vs POLED here.

Needless to say, any major screen issue is completely unacceptable for what in Canada is an eleven hundred dollar phone. Google will give you 15 days to return any hardware bought from their online store; if you're on the waiting list for a Pixel 2 XL you might want to cancel and see how this plays out.

Here is Freedom Mobile's LTE network at its very best in downtown Toronto, observed by yours truly in the second SIM slot of his Band 66-compatible OnePlus 5. I've definitely recorded better download speeds on Bell/Koodo/TELUS in the same neighbourhood, but Freedom's speeds—and the low latency in particular—is perfectly acceptable for almost anything you'd ask a modern smartphone to do.

But here's the thing: in my three days of informal testing across the GTA that LTE signal was pretty hard to come by. More often than not I was stuck on HSPA+, sometimes even on (gasp) 3G!

Not only that, but I can recall two incidents in particular where Freedom let me down entirely: the first was in the parking lot at IKEA North York, where the latency was so bad that launching Google Maps yielded no traffic data; the second was in the basement of Hudson's Bay Company at Queen and Yonge, where I was surprised to suddenly find myself with no signal at all.

The rest of the time data on Freedom was slow but serviceable. I did keep an eye on my phone's status bar, and when a rare 4G signal magically appeared I immediately did a speed test, with results similar to what you see above. This may, of course, be an issue unique to my unsupported hardware. But a chat with a rep at my local Freedom outlet gave me the impression that the phones sold by the carrier exhibit similar behaviour.

I will never fault anyone for choosing Freedom Mobile to vote with their wallet; Canada's Big Three carriers have been ripping us off for far too long. But while I'd definitely recommend an LTE upgrade to an existing user, I also think that any Big Three customer looking to jump ship is in for a disappointing ride.

While hardcore fans are still waiting for the top of the line Nokia 9 to be made official, HMD Global threw them a curve ball this week and announced the mid-range Nokia 7 for the Chinese market. The mere existence of Android phones bearing the famous Finnish brand is apparently not enough; Nokia is once again touting its Dual-sight camera (aka "bothie") as a unique selling point. Other notable specs are as follows:

The 7 will be available starting October 24th in either black or white, with either 4 or 6 GB of RAM and priced at either ¥2,499 or ¥2,699—which works out to about $377 or $407 USD. Will a version of this phone ever wash up on North American shores? You'll have to ask HMD Global about that.

This week Belgian researchers discovered a major security flaw in WPA2, previously thought to be an unbreakable security protocol for WiFi networks and the devices that use them—including routers, desktop computers, streaming set-top boxes, connected appliances and, of course, smartphones.

The flaw is called Krack, or Key Reinstallation Attack, and can be exploited to read sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers being sent through the network, or insert malicious code into websites as they are loaded onto devices.

The bad news for Nexus and Pixel owners is that they'll have to wait for the next monthly security update from Google to get their devices patched; the really bad news is for users of other Android devices (Samsung), who will have to wait much longer than that. The good news? If you're a modder and are running either LineageOS or OmniROM then your hardware is likely already patched. Android Police reports that official Lineage builds from October 17th onwards have been patched; ditto for Omni builds starting October 18th.

For anyone reading this who has ever questioned the value of custom Android firmware I'd say that this right here is a pretty good example of their worth.

Using Google Trends as a source, Tristan Rayner compared the interest (Google searches) in Apple and Samsung devices over the past five years. It's hardly a complete data set, but if you're going to compare only two smartphone OEMs then Samsung and Apple are probably the way to go. And his findings do seem to suggest that interest in new hardware from either of these manufacturers is indeed on the wane.

Spoiler alert: we reached peak smartphone with 2014's iPhone 6 Plus—which, if you think about it, makes perfect sense. After years of living in the shadow of the massive Galaxy Note (literally) Apple, with the 6 Plus, finally gave their customers a phablet to call their own.

I was all set to activate a SIM and try out one of Freedom Mobile's impossibly good data plans today—that is until late last night, when I read news of even better plans on the way. iPhone in Canada reports that the new plans will make their début this Thursday, October 19th.

Big Gig plans do not include calls from Canada to the USA, but for a limited time will offer free international SMS and MMS. Options are as follows:

Note that neither of the new plans include any free data when in the United States. If that's important to you then you'll want to jump on the current $50/month plan, which includes 1 free gigabyte of data per month from within the USA.

Freedom is definitely on a tear to get new customers, and I can't help but wonder if their current promotion isn't getting the activations they were hoping for. Their LTE network still seems plenty fast, even in downtown Toronto. And just last week there was a weird moment when the girlfriend and I walked by a Freedom outlet at Yorkdale Mall. Not only was the store empty, but the entire staff was assembled at the entrance, staring down passers-by as if trying to will them into entering.

Has anyone here switched to Freedom from Koodo? I'm seriously considering it—once I do some further testing, of course...

You might, however, be interested in the Librem 5 for its Linux compatibility and privacy-minded features. Out of the box the phone will run a mobile version of Purism's in-house PureOS, or any other Linux distribution that supports its hardware. Since the processor and GPU are both open-source there may well end up being a lot of support for this phone. For privacy there will be hardware kill switches for the cameras, microphone and all wireless networks. In addition the baseband will be separate from the CPU, presumably to prevent the NSA and its Five Eyes partners from overriding any of those kill switches.

In terms of apps, Purism is all about the HTML5, which was also the promise of Firefox OS. Remember Firefox OS? I do. It was terrible. And the cynic in me can't help but think that a phone running LineageOS and F-Droid in place of the Google apps would deliver 90% of the freedom and a much better user experience.

But who am I to rain on the freedom beards' parade? It seems like the Linux community is wholeheartedly embracing the Librem 5, and it will interesting to watch what they whip up for it—even if it will be very much a niche product.

The biggest story of this short news week has to be the revelation that OnePlus phones running the company's stock ROMs—Hydrogen and Oxygen OS—are, without their users' consent, collecting and transmitting personally-identifiable data. Here's a sample of what's being collected:

But wait, there's more... OnePlus is also collecting timestamped events on your device, like unexpected reboots, which apps you use and for how long, even when you lock and unlock your screen. It may sound like innocuous diagnostic information, but each of these timestamps is dispatched with personally-identifiable information. And even if you opt out of the OnePlus User Experience Program the hidden services that collect this data are still collecting this data and sending it back to OnePlus.

The collection can be halted via adb and a terminal command on a desktop computer. A more detailed account of how this data harvesting was discovered, and how to fix it, can be read at the link directly below.